Two Turns
by Crazy Amazing
Summary: You don't have to read Ghostgirl to understand this! Just thought I'd make that clear. This is a story about a happy couple and one interferring ghost who's just plain mean. 'nuff said really!
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This is based on/inspired by the entire trilogy of Ghostgirl - a totally underrated series. Last time I checked, there were only 7 fanfics for it! I'm not impressed. The title is a referrence to the phrase "one good turn deserves another", only in this case, I'm talking about bad turns :) The best kind! Sorry if there are any mistakes and shizz, but I really can't be bothered to pour over every word to check that it is spelt correctly. Hope you enjoy this!  
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Chapter 1 – The Twist

_**Old habits die hard. **__If they die at all, that is. Sometimes, you may think you've gotten rid of an old habit. You'll stop doing it for a long time and you'll feel good because you will genuinely believe you've gotten rid of it. Then a situation will present itself and before you know it, those old habits have resurfaced with a powerful vengeance._

'Loved up' was not the word Ingrid would use to describe her relationship with William. 'Happily married', yes. They'd known each other for just over two years and had been married for almost two months. Ingrid was in love with William and he in love with her, there was no doubt about that. Still, when Ingrid's insensitive sister Isabelle stupidly called her 'loved up' with William, Ingrid felt it was only right to hang up on her immediately. She didn't want to hear that kind of talk in reference to her relationship with her husband. Being married to Will 'the softie' Crawford hadn't changed the tough exterior Ingrid had built around her self over the years.

Frowning deeply at the receiver, Ingrid hastily replaced it as William walked into the living room still in his pyjamas, whistling merrily. Being lanky made it difficult to find pyjamas that fit him after going through a hot wash and as a result they were a little short on him. He walked straight past Ingrid, his mop of curly hair bobbing, and was nearly in the kitchen before he remembered. Back-tracking quickly, William twirled Ingrid around and planted a kiss on her lips before returning on his journey to the kitchen, satisfied with him self. Ingrid watched him go, a slight smile playing on her lips despite herself. That man was something else.

Unseen to Ingrid a woman with icy blue eyes was outside, peeking through the window and at the couple with great interest. If anyone could see the woman they would have been surprised by her appearance. After all, it was a little early in the day to be dressed for a dinner party and this woman had gone all out: sleek red dress that hung off her shoulders, a coat made of real fur although it was the middle of summer and heels that had to be six inches at most. Her full lips were caked in shiny red lipstick and if it hadn't been for her sunken-in face, the woman could have been mistaken for a model. It was obvious though that this young woman had been incredibly beautiful at one time in her life, especially from the way she carried herself. It was the confident swagger of a woman who knew she looked good.

Grinning to herself, the young woman slipped inside the house and stood closer to Ingrid than would have been comfortable. Luckily for the woman, Ingrid had no idea of her presence; she didn't even feel a cold chill like the majority of people. This was good news for the woman. She looked down at Ingrid, scrutinising every detail in her appearance from the split ends of her dark hair to the swirls of colour in her hazel eyes. She had dark circles under her eyes and the woman felt smug that she would never have that problem, since she was dead.

"My sister phoned," Ingrid felt compelled to call out to William. His head popped into view by the edge of the door that led into their kitchen.

"Oh?" he inquired with his mouth full of toast. Ingrid glared at William disapprovingly; she'd told him countless times before how much she detested it when he did that. Noticing Ingrid's gaze, William swallowed hurriedly and smiled abashedly. She simply rolled her eyes at him.

"Isabelle says hi," shrugged Ingrid. Their conversation hadn't been all that interesting and it was only now occurring to her why she bothered to bring it up in the first place. She and Isabelle had spoken mostly about what was going on with their parents – the divorce. There wasn't exactly anything new to say about it but Ingrid's sister had managed to make a conversation out of it for a good twenty minutes. That was a small miracle in itself and Ingrid found herself oddly impressed.

William nodded once and his head disappeared as he presumably returned to his breakfast. It reappeared almost instantly after and his face portrayed one of confusion.

"Ingrid?" he asked. Ingrid looked up from the magazine she had idly picked up from the coffee table.

"Yes Will?" she responded, raising her eyebrows a little. Next to her, the woman in the fur coat was gazing at William, stars shining in her eyes. A flame that had once been buried deep inside of her had been rekindled and she found her mind whirring as it came up with a devious plot. For a moment, William's eyes flickered towards the woman and her heart stopped beating. Well, it would have if it hadn't already. Ingrid turned to see what William was staring at but when she didn't see anything of interest, faced him once again. William knew that if Ingrid saw the woman, she would have undoubtedly mentioned something about her to him or at the very least insulted her for wearing real fur. Noting that Ingrid didn't seem to see the woman practically breathing down her neck, William made the wise decision not to mention anything about it.

"I love you," said William, covering up what he had originally been going to say. Feeling that William had paused just long enough to make her suspicious, Ingrid looked once more to where he had. Still not seeing anything that jumped out at her, Ingrid decided to let it go.

"I love you too, weirdo," she replied, smiling at her husband. Ingrid didn't realise it but as she spoke those words, a terrible fate had been decided for her by the ghost of a woman who wore fur coats when she was alive.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Driven

_**Seeing is believing. **__Similarly, believing is seeing. When you see something with your own eyes, you are proving to yourself that it exists. Alternativly, if you believe something exists without any visible proof, you're guaranteed to start seeing it. In this way the illusion of Santa Clause is broken and the idea of love is formed, however magical the illusion used to be._

The ghost of the woman in the fur coat's presence was making William feel self-conscious in his own home. He would be cuddling up to Ingrid on the sofa while she watched TV and the ghost would appear and just stare at them, a smirk displayed on her face. Or he could be kissing Ingrid goodnight with a yearning passion and the eerie glow that emitted from ghost would light up the room suddenly, startling him into springing apart from Ingrid. It was rather off-putting and William soon found himself acting cautious at the most inappropriate times – he'd never taken a shower in his swimming trunks until the ghost showed up. Ingrid thought he was losing his mind.

"I'm not crazy," assured William, getting dressed behind a screen he had bought a few days ago.

"Uh-huh..." said Ingrid, unconvinced. She'd already Googled the nearest hospital, thinking her husband needed help. It had been nearly two weeks and William hadn't explained the reason for his now-erratic behaviour. As he pulled his pyjamas on, his eyes wandered around and landed on a pamphlet for 'dealing with a mentally ill spouse'. Heart in his mouth, William decided that perhaps it was time he told Ingrid what was bothering him. At the very least, it would stop her suspicions that he was mentally unbalanced.

Sitting Ingrid down on the bed, William took a deep breath to calm his nerves and glanced around the room. Seeing no signs of his ghost, he turned back to face his wife. She was looking at him in a worried way and William realised how stupid he had been not to tell her sooner. She was cleared concerned about him, something that could have been avoided had he been straight with her from the first moment he had seen the ghost. William could have spared Ingrid a lot of needless worry if he had been honest with her. Didn't he promise to be just that in his vows?

"There's a ghost in our house," said William simply. Ingrid blinked back at him. A ghost..? She didn't believe in ghosts, psychics, star signs or anything else of the sort. If this had been anyone else telling her, Ingrid would have laughed in their face for spouting such nonsense. As it was William though, something inside her warned Ingrid to tread carefully. Keeping an open mind would be a key factor in resolving this issue, although Ingrid was struggling to. Her entire life, she had stayed true to her beliefs and even debating heatedly to justify them with anyone who dared challenge her. Despite her resolve to tread carefully, Ingrid couldn't resist the urge to raise her eyebrows sceptically at William.

"A ghost," she repeated. William nodded encouragingly. He appreciated that it was hard for her to take in.

"She's blonde, about our age."

"She?" asked Ingrid incredulously. William was losing her – quickly. As hard as it was for Ingrid to – even for a moment – believe that ghosts could exist, Ingrid found it more so to picture them with genders. As William noted with dismay Ingrid's disbelieving expression, the ghostly woman chose that moment to appear on the bed next to Ingrid. Observing the couple, a sinister smile stretched across the ghost's face. The bright red lipstick helped. She snaked a hand around Ingrid's shoulders, not that Ingrid showed any signs of knowing this. The ghost chuckled silently.

Breath catching in his throat, William realised he was either going to convince Ingrid there was a ghost in their house tonight or fail miserably. Something in Ingrid's set jaw told him it was the latter. Sensing that he didn't have much to lose anyway, William went on with his description of the ghost in the hope that it would make him feel better about the situation.

"She has on this red dress and a fur coat – real fur, I think. She looks like she's dressed for a posh party or something. Her face is kind of...worn, like she was a long-time smoker." Ingrid and the ghost frowned simultaneously; Ingrid deep in thought, the ghost in indignation.

"Long-time smoker?" she screeched. William winced at the shrillness of her voice and was surprised that she had spoken. Since the first time he'd seen the ghostly woman, she had yet to utter a single word to him and William had assumed that she was incapable of speech. It hadn't crossed his mind that the woman simply didn't possess the desire to speak to him. The ghost was profoundly offended at William's comment. In her lifetime, men had tripped over in their eagerness for her to notice them and now that she was dead she looked awful. It was a bad enough situation without William rubbing it in.

Ingrid folded her arms across her flat chest, thinking deeply about a conversation she'd had a few months ago with the man who had sold her and William the house. It had revolved around the previous owner: a young woman who had been murdered by an acquaintance of hers who had died before they were convicted of any crime. Ingrid had been fascinated by the story and at the time thought it made the house seem a little more thrilling, with a back story as gripping as that. A lot of people had believed the house was haunted and the couple had bought it for dirt cheap as a result of that.

"It could be the spirit of Mary Adler-Smith," Ingrid lightly suggested. William stared at her, completely clueless.

"Who?" Ingrid rolled her eyes and lifted the duvet of the bed before tucking herself under it. William watched as she moved right through the ghost, who didn't seem bothered by the casual movement. William supposed it happened a lot and she had grown accustomed to it. He followed Ingrid's lead – carefully moving _around_ the ghost of the woman in the fur coat – and got under the duvet with her. Propping himself up on one elbow, William leaned over and waited expectantly for Ingrid to elaborate her statement.

"Mary Adler-Smith. She used to live here until she was killed around six months ago. The man who sold us this house was her cousin or something. She was at a dinner party with a few dozen stuck-up friends – the cousin's words, not mine – when someone slipped poison in her drink. Next thing the guests knew, Mary Adler-Smith was convulsing and frothing at the mouth until at last she stopped moving altogether. Apparently it looked like she had had the life sucked right out of her." Ingrid watched as William's face paled considerably as she told him the gruesome details of Mary Adler-Smith's death. She knew there was a reason why he hadn't heard the story the first time around: William was for lack of a better word, a wimp when it came to gore.

Kissing William gently on the nose, Ingrid bid him goodnight and rolled over to sleep. She didn't know that this was the last time she'd get to touch him. Slightly traumatised by the things Ingrid had illustrated, William shuffled closer to her body and away from the ghost of Mary Adler-Smith, who was standing over his form, gazing dreamily at him in a way that had definitely crossed the line for creepy. She had decided that tonight was the night everything would change for the three people in that room.

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**Note: Trust me to figure out half way through chapter 2 that I hate the name William...  
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	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Switching Lives

_**You never know what you have until it's gone.**__ This is completely inaccurate. You do know what you have and, if it's precious to you, want desperately for it to never be gone. You'll fight tooth and nail to get it back and even when all looks lost, you won't give up. This is the power of desperation._

Mary didn't have to wait long before William and Ingrid were both sleeping heavily. William had started off with one arm around Ingrid's body but as they slept she had moved position and his hand had slipped away from her. Mary allowed herself one moment to glare at him; the comment about her face still stung. Regardless of her death, Mary took great pride in her appearance as she had when she was alive. A little thing like the lack of a pulse wasn't going to change her personality. Even so, William's hurtful comment wasn't bad enough to sway Mary from what she had planned. Nothing could stop her once she had made up her mind to do something.

With great care, Mary stepped across the room to Ingrid's side of the bed. She didn't want to run the risk of waking William, the only person in the entire world who could see her. It was for this reason that Mary's warped logic had told her this was meant to be. That she was justified in what she was doing. Besides, William deserved much better than Ingrid. In a way Mary would be doing him a favour. Although the room was dark Mary had no trouble seeing what she was doing. That was just one of the few perks of being dead. She stared at Ingrid's peaceful face, blissfully unaware that her life was about to be turned upside down. Mary bit the insides of her cheeks to keep herself from laughing hollowly at Ingrid's bleak future.

Reaching out with a slender hand, Mary grasped Ingrid's and was delighted when her own hand disappeared in the other woman's. Spurred on by this success Mary went in further, matching Ingrid's arm for hers; Ingrid's legs with her legs. Soon she was in a sitting position, half in Ingrid's body and half out. All she had to do was lay down and the rest would be taken care of. Chuckling softly to herself, Mary realised how hard this would have been had she attempted to do it whilst Ingrid was awake. The two souls would have fought for possession over the body until Ingrid's inevitably won – it was her body, after all. With a satisfied sigh, Mary threw herself back into Ingrid's body.

With a startled shriek, Ingrid felt herself being thrown violently to the right and she ended up on the floor of the room she shared with William. Blinking rapidly, Ingrid did her best to figure out what had happened. As far as she could tell, she had fallen out of bed – an event that had never happened to her before. Shaking her head in a dazed way, Ingrid rose to her feet and was about to get back in bed when her eyes caught something surreal. Her own face, staring up at her from the bed.

Ingrid's throat dried up. She couldn't speak, couldn't utter a sound. It took her a couple of moments to realise that her body was blinking and the chest was rising and falling. So she wasn't dead. That was a load off her mind – sort of. If she wasn't dead then why was she having an out-of-body experience? Ingrid raised her hands to her face and saw that they were giving off a celestial glow; not to mention slightly see-through. This did not look good and Ingrid struggled to remain calm. Her eyes darted back to her body and she noted that she was smirking at herself.

"Thanks for letting me take over your body!" Ingrid's voice said to her cheerfully. At once Ingrid knew something was up because her voice hadn't sounded that cheerful since she had become ten. Her face twisted into a frown as her body snuggled up to William.

"What do you mean?" asked Ingrid slowly. Her body glanced at her fleetingly and resumed getting comfortable next to William's body. Mary hadn't felt the warmth of another person's natural heat in so long she had forgotten just how good it really was. She was enjoying this.

"I'm Mary Adler-Smith and I've kicked your soul out of your body so I can live your life. Now would you keep it down? I'm trying to get to sleep," moaned Mary wickedly, spooning against William. Outraged, Ingrid reached out and attempted to pull Mary away from him but was aghast when her hands simply went straight through her own body. Ingrid repeatedly tried to move Mary to no avail. She couldn't so much as twitch the duvet. Frustrated that she didn't have any affect, Ingrid marched over to William's side of the bed and had a go at waking him up. Shaking him was useless – her hands went through him – and shouting was futile – he couldn't hear her. Not ready to give up just yet, Ingrid stomped back to her side and glared frostily at Mary.

"Enjoy my life while it lasts. I won't let you be me for long!" she snarled. Mary grinned mischievously, knowing that the chances of Ingrid reclaiming her life were slim to none. She wasn't dead and therefore wasn't entitled to an education in being dead. Without it, Ingrid was clueless. Mary was confident in the knowledge that it would take Ingrid weeks, if not months to work out how to get her body back. And who knows, by then Ingrid could have given up all hope.

Ingrid's anger ebbed away as she watched the spirit of Mary Adler-Smith snuggle up with _her_ husband. In its place were two things: disgust – and fear. Fear of what was going to happen next. Fear that she wouldn't be able to stop it. Fear that she wouldn't be strong enough to get over it. Fear.

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**Note: The chapters are short because long chapters bore me. Short ones are easy to handle :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – On a Mission

_**Down but not out.**__ Most people would rather be out, watching from the sidelines with a large bucket of popcorn to keep them munching while they watch the rest struggle. Being beaten but still in the game is nothing but an added humiliation to an already miserable situation. How anyone could enjoy being down was a mystery to Ingrid._

Sitting with her head leaning against the front of her house, Ingrid had given up. It had been three days of torture, watching as Mary masqueraded as herself in her own home, seducing her husband and just generally rubbing it in Ingrid's face. Ingrid couldn't face it any longer. Knowing that behind the face William was waking up to each morning was a twisted spirit made Ingrid sick. Every touch, every kiss William gave Mary was like another blow to the stomach for her. Couldn't he see that Ingrid was acting differently: she was looser, smugger, and more intimate? Ingrid was finding it difficult to process that the man she thought was her one true love couldn't tell the real her from a phony, even if it did still look like her on the outside.

She had tried everything in her power to reclaim her body. She'd fought for it, she'd bargained – she had even begged. Mary scoffed at everything Ingrid threw at her, not even worried that she would take back what was rightfully hers. Every time she had failed, Ingrid felt more useless. If she couldn't even get her body back from a dead woman, what could she do? From inside, Ingrid could hear the playful giggling of Mary and William. It was bad enough that Mary was abusing her body to make her giggle but did it have to sound so shrill? That was one of the reasons Ingrid tried to avoid giggling like a school girl.

Ingrid had not imagined the rest of her life looking so bleak when she was younger. She had pictured it a little how it was going until Mary Adler-Smith showed up: graduate university, become a P.E teacher, fall in love, get married, have kids, die happy. It didn't look like she had much hope of successfully accomplishing the last two things on her list, sadly. She wouldn't get the rush of knowing an actual baby was growing inside her or the triumphant feeling that her life had all been worth it at the end. This probably _was_ the end.

With an inward groan, Ingrid buried her head in her hands. She could remember being a teenager and thinking her life was over simply because Isabelle had borrowed her favourite top and ruined it. Her life was most definitely over now. All hope had been sucked away from her and as Ingrid wallowed in self pity, she heard the unmistakeable sounds of William and Mary thoroughly enjoying them selves inside the house. Ingrid felt ten times worse.

"Excuse me, are you dead?" Ingrid's head shot up. Standing in front of her was a young woman with hair that was obviously dyed, judging by the almost-white shade of blonde it was in contrast to her thin brown eyebrows. The woman stood stiffly, straining her eyes rather than bending her head slightly to look down at Ingrid and she tugged at her baby pink t-shirt self-consciously as she waited for Ingrid to answer. Ingrid scrambled to her feet, pulling the hem of William's shirt down to cover her milky thighs. It had seemed like such a good idea that night to don an old shirt of William's that had the character Mr Strong emblazoned on the front and a pair of his boxers as pyjamas. Now that she had spent three days in them without the slightest opportunity to get dressed, Ingrid had seen the errors of her ways. She looked ridiculous.

"No, I'm not," informed Ingrid, glad to finally have someone to talk to. It came as a surprising relief to finally be seen by someone other than Mary. "Why, are you?" The other woman nodded guiltily, smiling shyly at Ingrid.

"About five months now. Broke my neck when I fell down the stairs!" The woman giggled at the memory. "Woops, forgot to introduce myself. I'm Tanya!" Tanya eagerly shoved her hand in front of Ingrid, waiting for her to shake it. Ingrid did so cautiously.

"Ingrid." Tanya beamed at her.

"You know, when you're dead like me they give you a death name. Mine's Tanya Trips, 'cause I'm so clumsy," said Tanya cheerfully. Ingrid found herself quickly becoming lost in the babble that was leaving Tanya's mouth. Ingrid had met girls like Tanya before; ditzy, giggly girls with more air in their heads than brains. Meeting her didn't make Ingrid feel any more hopeful about her situation. So what if Tanya was dead, like Mary. That didn't mean she knew her or could help Ingrid out.

"Mary Adler-Smith? I **know** her!" shrieked Tanya when Ingrid mentioned it. Ingrid's face lit up as she caught sight of a small glimmer of hope.

"Really?" asked Ingrid, her brown eyes bright. Tanya confirmed that she did.

"We used to be best friends before we became dead! Actually, I was looking for her. She ran away from the Agency and they sent me to get her back," explained Tanya, not very helpfully. Ingrid was beginning to become confused with nearly every sentence that came out of Tanya's mouth. Why weren't she and Mary best friends anymore? If Tanya had been looking for her, wouldn't Mary's former house be the first place she'd search? Why had it taken Tanya over a week to get here? And what was the Agency?

Grimly, Ingrid explained to Tanya what Mary had so cruelly done and Tanya listened to every word intently, her expression changing to one of seriousness. Ingrid had the feeling that Tanya wasn't really taking it all in but wasn't deterred by that and when she was finished, Tanya stared her straight in the eye.

"We need to get back to the Agency right now. This is serious business!" Tanya announced, and she grabbed Ingrid's wrist, dragging her away from the house. Ingrid was amazed Tanya could move so fast in such a tight mini skirt. As she allowed herself to be pulled away, Ingrid took one last look at her house before they turned the corner. She vowed that when she got back, everything would go back to normal and she'd enjoy the rest of her life with William like she'd intended to from the start.

Tanya was pacing so quickly that her shoulder length hair billowed out behind her and Ingrid caught a glimpse of the back of her neck. What she saw made Ingrid cringe, her toes curling up. Sticking out at an awkward angle from the back of Tanya's neck was her spine. It must have been some fall she'd had down those stairs.

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**Note: I wanna get as many chapters out of the way as possible so when school starts it doesn't get in the way. Hope you're enjoying this so far, your feedback would be nice :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – New Hope

_**A stranger is a friend you just haven't met yet.**__ Now that's debatable. Other people make up their mind about you in the first five seconds of meeting. So it's more likely that a stranger is just another person secretly judging you by your appearance alone._

The Agency was on the edge of town, right off the main road. It was a tall building of grey stone with barred windows in the middle of a large grass field. Ingrid had lived in Peryl since she was a kid and had never seen the Agency building before. She figured it was only visible to those who had left their bodies. She could have asked Tanya for confirmation of this but the other woman was so agitated and jittery that Ingrid thought it best not to. She was still having a hard time looking at Tanya's neck area anyway. It was one thing to talk about gore – it was another entirely to witness it first hand.

Tanya led Ingrid to the front door and it swished open automatically. Tanya and Ingrid were immediately greeted by a cold chill and silence. The reception was empty save for them selves although this was usual for Tanya. She made her way over to the familiar elevator and didn't wait long before it had arrived. Ingrid accompanied Tanya into the elevator. The doors closed but she didn't bother pressing a button: there was no need to. The elevator went straight up to the floor Tanya needed and when the doors opened once again, she and Ingrid were bombarded with spirits all talking at the same time.

Tanya smiled at her friends, apologetically pushing through the throng of relieved faces to get to the room at the other end of the office. Ingrid stuck close behind her, intimidated by all the dead people but covering it up by pretending to be annoyed. It was how she dealt with the emotion and it seemed to work – no-one could tell she was daunted by the amount of ghosts greeting Tanya. Instead they simply assumed that Ingrid wasn't a friendly person, not that they were wrong there. Some of their deaths were obvious upon first glance which made Ingrid feel queasy, especially since one girl had masses of open knife wounds over of her skin while another guy was covered in oozing bullet holes.

The spirit of a rather chiselled young man stood blocking Tanya's path. His green checked shirt was tight and showed off the toned body beneath it well. Tanya grinned when she saw who was in her way and she threw herself at him, showering kisses on his face. Ingrid noticed that a couple of the other ghosts rolled their eyes at this display of affection but most of them didn't seem to mind. Eventually the man prised Tanya off of him and the smitten woman turned to Ingrid to introduce them.

"Noah, this is Ingrid but she's not dead. Noah is my fiancé. Or, he was when we were alive..." Tanya trailed off into a nervous giggle.

"Where's Mary and why is this _girl_ here if she's not dead?" the woman covered in knife wounds asked Tanya. She looked like she had been dragged backwards through a bush with frizzy hair and torn clothes. Tanya explained the situation to everyone in the room and the woman who had asked eyed Ingrid irritably, as if it were her fault Mary had hijacked her body. Ingrid frowned at her and made a mental note to stay away from her to avoid starting trouble. Noah slipped an arm around Tanya's waist and it occurred to Ingrid that he was holding her up. It couldn't be easy on Tanya, standing so straight all the time because of her spine.

"Where's Dan? I was hoping he could sort this whole thing out," said Tanya, leaning casually against Noah.

"He left this morning. He said we'd have to figure it out on our own from now on," replied a brown-skinned young man with one leg shorter than the other, causing him to tilt to one side. Tanya's face dropped and Ingrid felt her hope slipping away. Tanya had obviously put all her eggs in one basket and that basket had abandoned the ghosts earlier that morning. The dark cloud of hopelessness was returning to Ingrid. The other spirits didn't look happy about the situation either, although Ingrid wasn't big-headed enough to think it was over her.

Someone mentioned getting back to work and the crowd departed at once, retreating to their separate cubicles somewhat depressed. Ingrid felt pity for them: rather than being granted eternal peace after death they were forced to work nine-to-five jobs and probably for all eternity. That was probably what was lined up for Ingrid now that it looked like Mary was going to keep her body.

Tanya volunteered to take Ingrid on a tour of the office and introduce her properly to everyone who worked there, since it didn't look like she was leaving anytime soon. First was the man covered in bullet holes, Massacred Michael, a young ginger man who had been shot to death along with two hundred others on the train one morning. He was the only one out of them who had ended up at the Agency though. The cubicle next to his belonged to Noah who'd slit his wrists once he found out Tanya was dead. Ingrid could see the love in his eyes when he looked at Tanya and it reminded her painfully of William. She missed him.

A brunette woman admiring herself in a pocket mirror was introduced by Tanya as Self-Obsessed Sandi. She was killed in a car crash that had only happened because she had been trying to apply makeup using the rear-view mirror whilst driving on a busy road. She had pieces of glass stuck to her clothes and hair and cuts running along her face though she didn't seem unsettled by their appearance. Self-Obsessed Sandi waved the two women away; they were blocking her light. Robin Rush was next door to Sandi and she was speedily going through mounds of paperwork. Her death had also involved a car but it was because Robin had been so focused on getting to work early that she hadn't waited for the lights to change green before crossing. Robin Rush's rate of working was more remarkable as one of her arms was broken in two places and she had a windscreen wiper sticking out of her left shoulder.

Limping Lloyd was the guy who was tilted when he stood up. Ingrid had been wrong: one of his legs wasn't shorter than the other. It had been cut in the middle of the calf, giving Lloyd a hard time at balancing. He did his best and was even helping Brainless BJ sign off his paperwork. Brainless BJ was a skin head man who hardly spoke to anyone and if he did it was in monosyllables. It was hard to tell what had caused his death as he had no obvious wounds but it was easy to guess it had been a result of his dopiness.

At the back of the room was a timid woman cowering with a young man. Lonely Leona was underweight and had died of starvation. She didn't speak to anyone and preferred to work alone but Victor the Victim stuck to her side like glue. Lonely Leona was the only person in the Agency he trusted enough not to abuse him; all his life Victor had been bullied and taken advantage of by what seemed like everyone he'd ever met. At the end of his life, Victor had been mugged by a juvenile teenager and then stabbed when a gang war had broken out around him. The knife was still sticking out of his chest.

Finally was the heavily slashed woman who had taken a dislike to Ingrid. Tanya informed her that her name was Cut-Up Carmen and she hadn't been liked much when she was alive. Carmen didn't care for anyone and in the end that had been her undoing. Someone she had hurt so deeply had been driven to insanity and they offered her a second chance: apologise for the things she had done to them or die. Carmen had replied by spitting at the person, which naturally enraged them and they produced a knife. They had cut Carmen over one hundred times until she eventually bled to death.

A door at the far end of the room opened without warning and a woman swept into the office, her eyes locking on Tanya and Ingrid.

"What's gone on here?"

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**Note: Have decided to change the genre to 'horror'...Bit late? lol I start 6th form on the 13th so I still have a good few days to write chapters!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – New Leaf

_**Don't be a sheep, be a shepherd.**__ A herd of sheep can't be told apart from each other and only follow their shepherd. As people, being a sheep is seen as not having enough creativity to be an individual. But sometimes, it's okay to follow a natural leader._

The woman had reddish brown hair cut into a neat bob. Her strappy green top was free of wrinkles and her bright tights were immaculate. Ingrid thought she looked about eighteen which would make her the youngest ghost in the room. Although her hands were on her hips, she was smiling and no-one seemed particularly worried by her sudden arrival which told Ingrid that she wasn't another Mary. The woman was greeted by Robin Rush, Brainless BJ, Limping Lloyd, Noah and Tanya who all looked pleased to see her. Those who didn't make an effort to greet the girl personally at least smiled in her direction – Self-Obsessed Sandi managed to tear herself away from her mirror for a moment to wave. The only person not thrilled by the girl's arrival was Cut-Up Carmen but that wasn't a surprise to Ingrid. Ingrid had expected as much from her, after what Tanya had told her. From the way the woman had been welcomed into the office told Ingrid that she was definitely liked by everyone there.

"So who's going to tell me what happened?" the girl asked, cheerfully patting Brainless BJ on the back. Robin Rush was already zooming back to her cubicle and spoke over her shoulder to the girl.

"You know Mary left? She went to take possession of that girl's body." The girl's cheerful face dropped and she put a hand on Ingrid's shoulder. She looked genuinely concerned, an emotion Ingrid appreciated.

"Oh you poor girl! Don't you worry, we'll get this sorted," she assured Ingrid. Ingrid didn't think so. This girl was barely out of her teens. What could she possibly do for her? She might be taller than her and be dressed considerably better but really, what did that mean? Ingrid preferred her chances with that Dan guy everyone seemed so crazy about.

"We?" repeated Limping Lloyd. The girl nodded firmly.

"Yes, **we**." But Lloyd was already shaking his head. Ingrid saw in his face and the faces of those staring at them the same thing: they didn't want to get involved. Limping Lloyd told the girl that he didn't want to risk his afterlife on a woman who wasn't even dead yet: he'd rather complete his work in the office without any trouble as he knew it was the ticket to get to the next stop – whatever that meant. The girl in the green top wasn't deterred by this and Ingrid saw determination flashing in her hazel eyes. Ingrid held her breath, not daring to imagine that this girl could help get her body back. She knew she would be bitterly disappointed if the plan went belly-up once again and she reminded herself that the girl was still just a teenager. She couldn't possibly help her unless she got the entire office involved. Then there would be a chance.

"Is _anyone_ willing to help Ingrid?" Nearly all heads were fixed down, everyone becoming immersed in their work suddenly. Ingrid deflated. Only Tanya stood tall and proud, not just because of her spine either. She wanted to help Ingrid and she shot Tanya a grateful smile. At least she had the support of at least one person, though Ingrid didn't know what good it would do.

"How would you feel if it were your body Mary had stolen, hm?" the girl continued. A couple of heads looked up. After some deliberating Noah stepped forward and gripped Tanya's hand supportively. For the moment, that was all who wanted to put their necks out for Ingrid. The girl shot disapproving looks around the room but didn't press the matter further. She turned to Ingrid, Tanya and Noah and decided that a small team was better than no team at all. She looked at Ingrid's face and could tell how badly she wanted to get back to William. She had helped countless people get back with their other halves and she knew how good it felt to bring two people who loved each other together. She decided to do everything in her power to make it happen for Ingrid. It could be the last time she had to help someone out.

"Don't worry about them," she said to Ingrid. "Its nothing personal, they just don't want anything to get in the way of their perfect afterlife."

"I'm Ash by the way. Agony Aunt Ash. I died trying to fix a friend's problem...Her boyfriend was beating her and I tried to help her leave him...A cracked rib and a punctured lung later, here I am." Agony Aunt Ash smiled without humour at the memory. Even in death she wanted to help people work through their problems. She couldn't stop herself – it was uncontrollable. Still, as long as it made people happier then it didn't matter to her.

"Ash is the best! She comes second to Dan in a pinch, so we should have it all sorted no worries!" said Tanya optimistically. Ingrid hoped so. She looked at the faces of the people who had volunteered to help her out of this mess and her heart filled with gratitude for them. They didn't know her and yet they were willing to risk everything they had left to sort out her current predicament. It was a true selfless act and if she ever found a way, Ingrid would repay them for this kindness.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join in?" drawled Cut-Up Carmen as she approached the small gathering. Ingrid couldn't help staring at the gashes on Carmen's face. She found it hard to imagine being so angry with someone that she'd do something so vicious to them. Cut-Up Carmen noticed Ingrid staring and shot her a dark look. Ingrid immediately discovered how interesting the floor was.

Tanya looked at Cut-Up Carmen suspiciously: since dying, Tanya had never seen her volunteer to help _anyone_ and if the stories were true Carmen had never done anything for anyone without their being a catch. There had to be an ulterior motive for her wanting to help Mary out, especially as she seemed to dislike her from the very moment she set eyes on the short woman. Ash on the other hand was far more welcoming to Carmen and dazzled her with a gleaming smile. She was glad that for once, Cut-Up Carmen was going to actually help someone who wasn't herself. It made a nice change.

They all put their heads together to come up with a plan that would put things right. Cut-Up Carmen proved to be surprisingly creative and Ingrid found herself almost smiling at the scarred woman, until Carmen glowered at her for even twitching the corners of her mouth at her. Ingrid hoped it didn't take them too long to come up with a plan and execute it – no matter how pleasant Tanya and Ash were to be around, nothing was worth spending time in Carmen's company. For a dead girl, she was such an imposing woman. Ingrid hoped Carmen didn't see fit to haunt her or something when this was all over.

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**Note: Sorry for the long wait. I've been really tired lately and as a result, didn't have the energy to write. Serves me right for going to bed so late..**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – Such Cruelties

_**We all need a shoulder to cry on. **__Even the toughest people have moments of emotional weakness. In those cases, all they need is someone they can lean on for support. When we're at our lowest, that's when the people around you prove their worth. The ones who stick by you are the keepers and the ones who don't – well, they're not._

He stroked the back of her head delicately as Mary pressed her lips even deeper against his, a moan escaping her lips. She placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him backwards on the sofa so that she fell on top of him. Mary wrapped her legs around his and she felt one of his hands drop to gently squeeze her thigh. His lips grazed against her collar bone.

"Darren..." breathed Mary, hugging him tightly. William had gone out a few hours earlier to 'see a man about a car' and no sooner had he turned the corner of the street had Mary run straight to her next door neighbour's barely legal son, Darren. After barely a week she had grown bored of William and now focused her attention on Darren who was younger, more toned and impressionable. It was easy enough for Mary to convince him to come over for a while and after assuring Darren that 'her' husband wouldn't be back for ages, he agreed. They had started with a light romantic movie but had escalated to heavy making out. Mary was enjoying herself more than she had since her death.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing with him? That's **my** body you're abusing!" shrieked Ingrid as she, Carmen, Tanya and Ash floated into the room through the wall. It was a shock to Ingrid to see what was essentially _her_ grabbing up her neighbour's son. She was a married woman and Darren still lived with his mum!

Mary's eyes flashed briefly in their direction but other than that she made no indication that she was aware of their appearance. Darren obviously hadn't heard Ingrid as he continued to nuzzle against Mary's neck with vigour. Not wanting things to go further than what she had witnessed so far, Ingrid rushed to Mary and attempted to pull her spirit out of her body. Ash and Tanya didn't hesitate to help Ingrid, though Cut-Up Carmen sighed heavily before dragging herself over to lend a hand. The four of them tugged with all their might and it felt like Mary's spirit was slowly slipping out of Ingrid's body. Ingrid's body convulsed as parts of Mary's spirit flailed around in Mary's body, trying to stay in it.

Underneath the commotion, Darren was freaking out. The person he knew as Ingrid seemed to be having a fit on top of him and he was scared. He'd never seen anyone act like this before and he didn't know what to do. Darren stayed as still as he could so as not to provoke Ingrid and held his breath for good measure. The only thing that could be worse than this would be if Ingrid's husband came home and saw them.

Without warning, Noah burst into the room via the wall looking like he'd just seen a ghost. Ironic, really.

"William's coming!" he said, panicked. He had been assigned to be on look-out in case any of the higher ghosts decided to put a stop to what they were doing. Ash, Tanya, Cut-Up Carmen and Ingrid froze. Looked at Noah. Back at Mary and Darren. Darren was glad that 'Ingrid' seemed to have stopped convulsing and instead of asking if she was okay, resumed kissing her neck. Mary, like the other spirits, had heard Noah's announcement but didn't think it wrong to continue her session with Darren. If William happened to walk in on them, then so be it.

As predicted, William entered the house and made straight for the living room with a smile on his face. He had just found the perfect car for them at an affordable price. He couldn't wait to see the look on Ingrid's face when he tol–

William tried to shout. He tried but nothing came out, only a sort of strangled cry. When he dropped his bag on the floor in shock, it alerted Darren and Mary that someone else was there. Darren looked up and when he saw William standing there looking like he had just been slapped, practically pushed Mary off of him. The ghosts and Ingrid stood off to one side, watching the scene unfold. William gaped like a goldfish until Darren stood up and apologised pathetically. William shook his head slowly, not quite believing what he had just seen. His wife, the one woman he trusted with all his heart, had betrayed him in the worst way. Didn't they take vows against this sort of thing not too long ago? Not able to look at his unfaithful wife's face, William turned his head and walked out the door.

Ingrid didn't think before going after him. She hated Mary for what she had done to William but knew that her place was with him right now. She'd give Mary what she deserved once she made sure William wasn't going to do anything stupid. William picked up the pace as soon as he had slammed the front door behind him, steadily going faster until he broke out into a run. Ingrid struggled to keep up with him – his legs were incredibly long – but she somehow managed to. Maybe it was because she was in a spirit form and didn't actually have to touch the ground in order to move.

They ran down several streets, up a hill, over a fence and through a gap in a hedge before William stopped running. He collapsed in an enclosed field just off the highway and that was where he crumbled. William pulled his knees up to his chest and then buried his head in them. Ingrid sat beside him, her ghostly hand resting lightly on his back. He couldn't feel it but it made Ingrid feel better.

When his shoulders began to shake, Ingrid knew he was crying silently and her heart broke for him. She couldn't even think about plotting revenge on Mary, not when William was this upset. His pain was her pain and this cut deep. He was her husband and to see him this hurt was almost too much to bear. He probably thought she didn't love him anymore...Ingrid wrapped her arms around him the best she could, considering the circumstances. She prayed that even though William couldn't see her, couldn't feel her, couldn't hear her that he could somehow know she was there. She didn't want him to think she had given up on their love, on their entire marriage after just two months.

Ingrid held on to William while he sobbed unknowingly in her transparent arms.

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**Note: Ugh. I just want to get this finished so I can start on more stories! Not the best attitude, I know, but I really can't be bothered with this. I'd give up if I weren't so close to the end XD**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Full Circle

_**Right the wrongs.**__ It's never too late to repent. No matter how long you leave it, your mistakes can be fixed if you're sincere about them. Leaving your wrongdoings to become a part of the past is irresponsible and, let's face it, not very practical. They will always come back to bite you in the butt._

Darren had scurried home pretty quickly after William's departure, leaving Mary in the company of the ghosts. They were staring at her with a mixture of disapproval and disgust. Glazing over their hardened expressions, Mary smiled at them with false innocence.

"All my friends are here," she said sarcastically. Ash crossed her arms and frowned at her.

"What do you think you're doing, Mary? Get out of Ingrid's body right now. You've probably ruined her marriage," she chided. Mary's face darkened.

"So what?" she spat childishly. Ash shook her head at the unabashed woman. Most people could be helped. Most people wanted help. Mary was a special case. She was the worst kind of person: she set out to hurt other people and actually got joy from it. Not even Cut-Up Carmen had gone through her life with the goal to trample on whoever got in her way – they just happened to be there when she didn't want them to be.

Mary adjusted the tube top she had dressed Ingrid's body in, not that it showed off much. Ingrid didn't have much in the chest department, which Mary found depressing. Noah's eyes were drawn to the incredibly short pair of jeans shorts Mary had squeezed into until Tanya nudged him in the ribs. Mary noticed this and smirked.

"Even in death..." she murmured. Noah blushed and Tanya felt like slapping him. Mary shouldn't have that kind of control over him anymore. It wasn't fair.

"Give it a rest. Everyone's tired of your little games," said Cut-Up Carmen flatly, coming to Tanya's defence without realising. Tanya shot her a grateful look that Carmen missed completely. Mary turned to Cut-Up Carmen, a cruel smile playing on her lips.

"Why should I, Shreds?" she said, laughing wickedly. Cut-Up Carmen narrowed her eyes at her, ready to strike back.

"That's rich, coming from a slut whose death name is Mary the–"

"Don't say it!" interrupted Mary quickly.

"Man-eater," finished Cut-Up Carmen triumphantly. It felt good to get under Mary's skin for once. Mary glowered at the heavily knifed woman but didn't say anything else. Knowing that she had the upper hand, Cut-Up Carmen went on.

"I mean, don't you find it weird? I don't know how I could enjoy my afterlife knowing that I was killed by my best friend," she snickered, glancing at Tanya whose eyes were cast down in shame. She wasn't exactly proud of poisoning Mary but she had had a good reason at the time. And Mary had pushed her down those stairs as revenge so it wasn't like Tanya hadn't gotten what she deserved. She would rather Noah not have killed himself because of her death – he wasn't to know it was her punishment for committing murder – but it at least meant she didn't have to wait around for another fifty years for him to croak.

"I know why you stole the body, too. You preferred to have a young face, since yours is so _horribly shrivelled_..." Cut-Up Carmen carried on. Mary fixed her with a murderous glare.

"That's enough Carmen," warned Ash. Cut-Up Carmen turned to her.

"No, it's okay Ash. She can't do anything to me. I'm already dead, remember?" she said bitterly.

"Still, I'd feel better if you didn't go on–" Ash was cut off by Mary throwing herself at Cut-Up Carmen, trying to strangle her. Her ghostly hands left Ingrid's body so Mary could get a grip around Carmen's neck and her face was contorted with pure hatred as she squeezed tighter. It was true Cut-Up Carmen couldn't die a second time but that didn't mean being strangled didn't hurt. She gagged as Mary's hands constricted her airways – not that she needed to breathe anymore. It was more of a force of habit.

Tanya squealed and stumbled away from them, tripping over her own feet and nearly falling to the floor. Noah caught her in the nick of time although the impact of his catch strained her spine and she winced in pain. Ash attempted to prise Mary away from Cut-Up Carmen with no success. It was pure chaos.

"Mary," a male voice called softly. Mary recognised the voice instantly and her body tingled all over. It had been years since she had last heard that voice. She dropped Cut-Up Carmen and spun around where she came face to face with the ghost of a dark haired boy who looked no older than Ash. He had a clean-shaven face and a sad dimpled smile.

"Ken!" squeaked Mary, throwing her arms around him. Ken held her tightly to him, trying to inhale her familiar scent but didn't smell anything as she was dead. He put Mary down gently and stared at her for a long while. She had changed so much in the years they had been apart. Aside from her sunken face – testament as to the way she died – Mary seemed so much older to Ken.

"How do you know...Who is he?" asked Ash. Ken finally noticed her and the other ghosts. He recognised Tanya from the old days but didn't know anyone else.

"I was Mary's husband," he said. Cut-Up Carmen's eyebrows shot up: that Mary had married a decent-looking guy came as a shock to her. That Mary had been married at all was a shock to all of them really, save for Tanya. Mary clung to Ken's arm and gazed up at him adoringly. She never thought she would see him again, not even in death. She hadn't been good enough when she was alive to earn such a privilege. Ash stared at the newly reunited couple with empathy: it was obvious Ken had died young, probably not long after their wedding. Ken turned to his wife.

"Mary, what are you doing in this body?" he asked lightly. "I want to see the real you." Tears filled Mary's eyes and her grip on Ken's arm grew tighter.

"I'm not the same girl I was back then. When you died, I changed. I've been the 'other woman' to so many couples and I've wrecked countless relationships. I even slept with Tanya's fiancé!" Ash gasped audibly, looking at Noah and Tanya. Their facial expressions confirmed that it was true: Noah was ashamed while Tanya was reliving the pain of that memory. Ken shook his head.

"You're wrong. You are the same girl; I still love you with everything I have," he insisted. "Please, leave the poor woman's body."

"How can you love me? I hurt my best friend so badly, she poisoned me – not that I didn't deserve it. Still, as if that wasn't enough I had to go and push her down a flight of stairs and kill her too. I'm a horrible person: you _can't_ love me!" Mary protested desperately. She no longer felt like she warranted his love after all the awful things she had done. Ken smiled at her, despite the tears dribbling down Mary's cheeks.

"Don't you love me?" Mary admitted she did. "Then that's all that matters. That's all that has ever mattered." Ken tugged on Ingrid's arm and Mary's ghostly hand emerged from it. She allowed herself to be pulled out of Ingrid's body and into Ken's arms where she sobbed uncontrollably. Ingrid's body fell to the floor as it had no soul to keep it standing.

Seeing a great window of opportunity – just like she'd hoped – Cut-Up Carmen slipped into Ingrid's body.

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**Note: I'm not going to lie to you. This chapter was rushed. If you saw the amount of work they're threatening me with in college...and I only chose three subjects! But mostly, I just want to get this finished so I can move on to bigger and better things ;D**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Unexpected Circumstances

_**People are full of surprises.**__ You think you know a person inside out. Then they do something so out of character you begin to wonder if you ever knew them at all. No-one can know what is going on in another person's head so it's relatively easy to be surprised by their actions. There's no way to guess how a person will react in a certain situation._

It was dark now and a strong wind was blowing powerfully through the air, making for a cold and harsh atmosphere. Ingrid was sitting beside William with her arms and legs wrapped around him in an attempt to keep him warm. Though the low temperature didn't affect her, Ingrid could tell it must be near freezing from the way William was shivering violently. She had originally hoped that William would come to his senses when the sky had first grown dark and go home, but as time ticked on it became clear that he had no intention of leaving. Ingrid was worried that William would get ill and so resolved to transfer what little – if any – heat she had retained to her husband.

Uselessly rubbing William's arms, Ingrid willed him to stop being so self-destructive. She understood that he had been hurt by what he thought she had done back at their house and this was his way of expressing that. However, Ingrid hadn't realised just how much he loved her. William would rather face the harsh conditions of the evening weather than the woman he loved deeply who had broken his heart. Ingrid didn't think it was possible and yet she loved William even more now.

"Please go home," begged Ingrid in a whisper, resting her head on his shoulder. "Please Will, go home. I don't want you to die out here." The wind howled relentlessly, hitting William so sharply he gasped. Ingrid felt compelled to hug him tighter but found that her hands simply went through him.

"You need to go home, Will. Please? For me?" she pleaded. William's head snapped around and he looked directly at Ingrid. Her heart soared. Could he finally see her?

"William?" said Ingrid happily. William continued to look at Ingrid, his face contorted into a frown. He shook his head once. He thought he heard Ingrid's voice – but that was impossible. She wasn't even there. Ingrid's heart dropped as William turned away from her. Okay, he couldn't see her anymore than she could see Mary before. But maybe he could hear her subconsciously?

"Go home, _please_ Will. You'll die out here," Ingrid implored. William's head shot up again. His eyes locked with Ingrid's. Something inside of him was telling him to go home...

In an instant William was on his feet, marching his way out of the field. The wind was fierce but his urge to get home was fiercer. Ingrid rejoiced as she followed him in the direction of home. He'd heard her!

/\

Cut-Up Carmen struggled against the hands of the three ghosts trying to drag her out of Ingrid's body and found that it wasn't as easy as Mary had made it seem. Still, she managed to evade Ash, Tanya and Noah long enough to scream at them to stop. Somewhat surprised by Cut-Up Carmen's sudden outburst, the three spirits obeyed. Ash couldn't stop blaming herself for what had happened: she of all people should have sussed that Carmen had an ulterior motive for wanting to help get Mary out of Ingrid's body. The sly woman had only wanted Ingrid's body for herself. Who knew what fiendish ideas Cut-Up Carmen had in store for her?

Mary herself was busily catching up with Ken, too absorbed in him to bother paying attention to anything else. Not that she particularly cared anymore about Ingrid's body. She had her husband and that was all that mattered to Mary.

"I should have known you'd pull something like this," spat Ash bitterly. Tanya and Noah nodded along in agreement. Everyone at the Agency knew how ruthless and selfish Cut-Up Carmen had been in her life – they should have expected nothing less now that she was dead. Some things, it seemed, never changed.

"Why do you always have to use people?" added Noah. Cut-Up Carmen scoffed.

"Says the guy whose death name is Naive Noah," she said, rolling her eyes. "Look, it's not what you think..." Carmen didn't get to finish explaining herself though.

"Wanna bet?" challenged Tanya, offended on Noah's behalf for what Cut-Up Carmen had just said. "You're abusing someone else's body for your own selfish agenda!" Cut-Up Carmen, Ash and Noah all blinked rapidly at Tanya. It was the most advanced sentence they had ever heard her say and they were slightly amazed by it. Tanya recognised that she had used 'big words' and grinned to herself.

"Well, maybe...But it's not like that!" protested Carmen.

"Look; just do whatever you have to do. I've given up," said Ash finally, giving Cut-Up Carmen her best look of utter contempt. Ash had spent her entire life trying to help people but there really was no rescuing Cut-Up Carmen. That woman was in a cold league of her own.

Frustrated that no-one wanted to hear her out, Cut-Up Carmen huffed loudly and turned her back on them all, attempting to convince her self that she didn't care what they thought about her. She sat down near Ingrid and William's telephone and picked up the receiver while dialling the familiar numbers. Noah and Tanya watched her carefully but Ash was forcing herself to stare out of the window. The curtains hadn't yet been drawn and so she was the first to notice William coming home with Ingrid in tow.

Feeling quite smug, Ash turned back to see the scene unfold. William entered the house cautiously, hoping he wouldn't see anything...unsavoury. When it became apparent that nothing was going on William walked with less care and was stumped when he saw Ingrid making a phone call. She looked at him but didn't say a word as the phone was answered at the other end.

"Hello?"

"Is this Amy Pearson?" asked Cut-Up Carmen in Ingrid's voice. William stared at her in confusion: Ingrid didn't know any Amy Pearson.

"Yes. Who may I ask is calling?"

"I have a message," Cut-Up Carmen completely ignored Amy's question, "from the Other Side. Carmen Ortega is sorry about what she did to your sister."

"Wh-what did you say?" Amy asked in a hoarse whisper. Cut-Up Carmen hung up the phone. The deed was done, she had completed her goal. It wasn't the direct apology she had been hoping for but she didn't know the phone number for the prison Amy's sister was doomed to spend the rest of her life in. Carmen's eyes met William's.

"Ingrid, we need to talk." Cut-Up Carmen stood up and approached William.

"I agree, except for one thing. I'm not Ingrid."

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**Note: Seriously, what the heck is going on with using * or ~ as a break? !  
**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Moving On

_**The most powerful thing in the world is love.**__ Ingrid had underestimated the power of love her entire life. She had no idea it was so strong. It drove perfectly ordinary people to do the strangest of things. It could make people so jealous they set out to hurt others in love. It could make people commit murder as a result of a loved one's death. It could even bring someone back to life._

"Let me get this right. You," William pointed at Mary, who was the only spirit in the room he could see, "possessed my wife's body in order to mess with our relationship and you," William pointed at Ingrid's body, "aren't really Ingrid, but another ghost who took over Ingrid's body to...make a phone call?"

"Exactly," agreed Cut-Up Carmen. William shook his head and sank down on to the sofa, muttering about how he needed mental help. Mary sighed and moved towards him, with Ken following her closely. Cut-Up Carmen shot her a dirty look in warning but Mary for once didn't rise to it. She understood that Cut-Up Carmen had ever right to be wary of her getting closer to William and didn't blame her.

"You're not crazy. It wasn't right what I did to Ingrid and I'm..." Mary looked around the room at the other faces, invisible to William, glaring at her. "Sorry." She didn't mean it of course, but it was nice for everyone to hear her say it even so. William's head was swimming. He wasn't sure he believed any of what 'Carmen' had told him although he knew it made sense. The Ingrid he knew wouldn't behave the way she had been recently. But being possessed by a ghost was a little far-fetched, even if William could see one of them with his own eyes.

"Where's Ingrid now?" asked William.

"I'm right here," Ingrid replied. William's eyes travelled over to where she was standing but looked straight through her. Even though it was evident he could hear her, he still couldn't see Ingrid. William stood up and strode over to where he thought she was standing and held out his hand for her. Ingrid didn't hesitate before placing her transparent hand in his fleshy one. William almost cried out when he felt his hand tingle. He turned back to Cut-Up Carmen and Mary.

"Please let her have her own body back," he requested. Cut-Up Carmen nodded her head and told Ingrid to go closer to her body so that she would be ready for when Carmen left it. Obeying her command, Ingrid left William and joined Cut-Up Carmen's side. William watched hopefully, praying that everything went well. He didn't know how these things worked but they seemed a bit risky to him.

Ash, William, Noah and Ken held their breath. Tanya held Noah's hand for support. Mary watched with indifference. Cut-Up Carmen took her last deep breath before stepping smartly out of Ingrid's body. Ingrid's body dropped like a rock to the floor for the second time that day as Ingrid hadn't realised her body wouldn't stand without a soul to keep it up. She looked around the room at the ghosts.

Ingrid was really going to miss them, especially Tanya and Ash. She had no idea who Ken was although from the adoring way he kept glancing at Mary, it wasn't hard to guess his motive for being there. Speaking of Mary, Ingrid was definitely not going to miss the conniving woman who had very nearly ruined her marriage. Cut-Up Carmen had turned out to be not all bad – apologising to the sister of the person she'd driven to murder her was always a good thing – but that didn't mean she had grown on Ingrid. She was still incredibly unfriendly and intimidating and Ingrid would be happy to keep her distance.

"Thanks for everything," said Ingrid to all the ghosts gratefully, before jumping into her body. She was still. William looked at Mary.

"What's happened? Did she get in?" Mary didn't answer him. She was too busy gasping at what was happening to her and all the other ghosts. They were floating in the air, glowing in a white light. Tanya squealed. They had finally finished with this world: they were on their way up! The six ghosts grinned as they were summoned up and out, to get to the next part of their afterlife. Hopefully that was everlasting peace.

William dropped to his knees at Ingrid's side. She hadn't moved, not even a slight twitch. What was taking her so long? Surely she should be back to normal by now. William felt her wrist. There was a pulse – but it was faint and very slow. Beginning to panic, William wondered if he should call the hospital. The back of his eyes felt hot; but he wouldn't cry. Not yet. William pulled Ingrid into his arms, hugging her tightly to his chest. He could feel the weak pounding of her heart. Ingrid's arms dropped limply at her sides.

"Wake up Ingrid," murmured William. "Please. I love you; don't leave me." Ingrid's heart slowed to a stop. William closed his eyes, whispering no. It couldn't be true. It couldn't end this way. There were so many things he wanted to experience with Ingrid. So many places he wanted to take her. William didn't think he could go on without her. In that moment, he gave up all hope of having a happy life. How could he without Ingrid?

Then without warning, Ingrid's heart began to beat again. It started off slow at first but soon built up into a steady, normal pace. William scarcely dared to believe it. Ingrid's eyes fluttered open and she focused on the handsome face looming above her.

"Hey you," she said in a whisper. She felt like crap. Her head hurt from falling on the floor – twice – and her limbs were stiff as if she hadn't moved in a week. Which was half true. Yelping with joy, William hastily hugged Ingrid but eased up when she winced, groaning in pain.

"Sorry," he said, grinning from ear to ear. He was just so glad she was alive! William had honestly thought that he had lost her there. Knowing Ingrid was going to live made William feel like he was on top of the world. He couldn't remember being this happy, except maybe on his wedding day two months ago.

With a lot of effort, Ingrid wrapped her arms around William's neck. She was still in his arms. Using all of her strength, Ingrid lifted herself up and kissed him deeply on the lips. It had been far too long since she had been able to do that and she enjoyed it thoroughly.

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**Note: I love love :3 lol, this is the second to last chapter guys!**


	11. Chapter 11

Epilogue

_**Don't take for granted the things you have. **__Because you never know how long you'll have them for and then what will you do without them? It's far better to show your appreciation for what you have than to cry about it later when it's gone. Ingrid was not going to make this mistake again._

"How are my two favourite love birds?" Isabelle grinned, greeting Ingrid and William as they took their seats opposite her at the diner table. Normally Ingrid would have been annoyed with her sister for making such a statement and would have hit her back with an insult. Isabelle was steeling herself for the wrath that was sure to come. She actually enjoyed these moments. Ingrid and William simply looked at each other and smiled adoringly, warranting Isabelle's disappointment and confusion. She was clearly missing something here.

"We're just great," sighed Ingrid happily, kissing William's neck lightly.

"The best," he agreed. Isabelle felt like pinching herself to check if she was awake. Her sister hadn't threatened to end her life after the comment she had made for the sole purpose of provoking her? This was a new development. Isabelle patiently waited for the couple to stop gazing at each other with stars in their eyes and focus their attention back on her. It didn't look like that would be any time soon: as clichéd as it was, they looked like they were lost in one another's eyes.

Isabelle was wondering why they had invited her here. 'Here' being a new diner called The Agency that seemed to have an office theme. Even though it was new and had a strange theme it had attracted quite a lot of customers as the food and service were supposed to be unbeatable. Ingrid had suggested they meet there as she had noticed it had been built where the ghosts' Agency was, on the edge of town. She had dismissed it as a strange coincidence but wanted to check it out regardless. It had been almost a month but she hadn't forgotten what had happened to her, nor the friends she had made. Ingrid missed them terribly.

Isabelle continued to pout as she was ignored by her sister and brother in-law. They seemed even more touchy-feely than usual for them which indicated that something was up. That did not bode well with Isabelle. It crossed her mind that perhaps it was all Ingrid's idea and they were just winding her up. She dismissed that; the two of them looked far too genuinely in love. They were like something straight out of a romantic movie.

Isabelle placed her elbows on the table and rested her head on her hands, just staring at the couple sitting across from her with a serious expression on her face. Eventually, Ingrid noticed this and broke her gaze with William, turning to her sister.

"What?" she asked, laughing nervously and simultaneously linking arms with William.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" she asked, dead-panned. Ingrid's hearty laughter was cut short by the arrival of the waiter asking for their orders. Once that had been taken care of, Isabelle eyed her sister warily.

"Okay, what did you two drag me all the way down here for?" she asked, feigning annoyance. In truth, she had been looking forward to this all week. It had been ages since she had seen her sister and William in person and though she wouldn't admit it, Isabelle has missed them. Ingrid smiled with uncharacteristic joy and glanced at William who had a similar expression on his face. Squeezing William's arm lightly, Ingrid burst out:

"We're having a baby!" Well, that explained everything in Isabelle's eyes. She squealed excitedly, attracting the immediate attention of several other customers. Isabelle was immensely happy for the both of them. A mother of two, Isabelle knew how exhilarating and scary it felt to be expecting your first child and the conversation inevitably turned to names for the unborn child. The three of them threw a variety of them out there, ranging from old-fashioned to exotic.

When the waiter returned with their orders, Isabelle politely excused herself to the bathroom. Placing the plates and glasses on the table carefully, the waiter stared directly into Ingrid's eyes. She had seen him in the neighbourhood a few times although his name escaped her. She looked at his nametag and learned that it was 'Larry'.

"Congratulations. Don't you think Tanya would be a good name?" he said with a cheeky wink. Ingrid frowned and looked at William for help. He had missed this exchange as he was too busy staring across the room. William pointed at the corner of the room where his eyes were fixed.

"Mary Adler-Smith is over there. She's waving," he said, waving back. Ingrid looked but didn't see anyone and felt too awkward to wave at someone she couldn't see. The fact that it was Mary and not any of the other ghosts she actually liked also helped Ingrid make the decision not to wave. Her hand stayed at her side. Larry the waiter still hadn't left their table and hadn't stopped looking earnestly at Ingrid. He was beginning to creep her out.

"So about the name _Tanya_," he persisted, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. "She might be a little clumsy with a name like that." Ingrid gaped at him, scared to think that she could be right about this.

"Tanya...Trips?" she asked. Tanya beamed using Larry's mouth.

**The End?

* * *

****Note: For those of you who don't know, Ghostgirl books end with 'The End?'. This really IS the end though XD Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it! Now I can finally get back to my other story,_ I Want To Be Left Alone_...**

**Crazy Amazing x  
**


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